Modern Family, The Middle, Cougar Town & Happy Endings new tonight!

Professional TV junky Deanna Barnert covers all corner of Tinseltown but good television is her passion. Visiting sets, interviewing industry players and critiquing the final product are all in a day's work, as is losing an evening or a...

Modern Family: Graduation Drama

With summer just around the corner tonight, May 18, on ABC, The Middle tackles the fear of bikini shopping and bridge crossing, while the Modern Family clan may have to depend on MacGayver to make it to Alex’s graduation. Lou Diamond Phillips, Barry Bostwick and Robert Clendenin guest star on Cougar Town and Happy Endings goes back to when Alex and Dave’s breakup was fresh for a wacky double feature.

In The Middle: The Bridge at 8 p.m., Frankie and Mike try to help Brick tackle another one of his quirks. They're convinced their youngest can lick his bridge-crossing phobia, but what about Sue's two-piece drama? As any girl knows, swimsuit shopping is an emotional event, under the best of circumstances. Tack on Sue's indecisiveness and this season's effort may just send Frankie into the deep end. Meanwhile, with opening day at the local public pool fast approaching, Axl goes up against nemesis Sean Donahue for a lifeguard position.

Then after a rebroadcast of The Middle: Spring Cleaning, it's back to the fresh episode, Modern Family: See You Next Fall at 9 p.m. Valedictorian Alex is set to deliver the commencement speech at her middle school graduation, but her family may fail to make it to her big event. Not only do they run into trouble with a broken gate, but between Jay's botched botox, Claire and Phil's empty nest issues and the Pritchetts' penchant for laughing at Cam, family drama is at a high. Amidst all this, Haley is both offended and concerned over Alex's cool factor when she sneaks a look at her sister's speech. The conflict forces the girls to get real with each other, for a change.

At 9:31, it's time for Cougar Town: Free Fallin. While Jules gives heartbroken Travis a dose of tough love to help him get over Kristin, Bobby and Laurie try to take Penny Can to the next level, with Andy's help. Team Cul-de-sac Crew is floored, however, when Lou Diamond Phillips puts his own stamp on the game, with the help of his own team, which includes Barry Bostwick's Roger and Robert Clendenin's Tom. Ellie and Grayson have their own battle to wage when they take on the occult -- or rather, three kids with an edge.

Then it's the 10 p.m. double hit of Happy Endings, with two new episodes that look back to when Alex and Dave's wedding fiasco was still fresh. First, the episode Bo Fight goes back to when Dave first moved in with Max. While Alex throws herself and Penny into an endless series of girls' nights, Dave throws himself and Max into the bottle and then decides to man up and go after that rollerblading doofas who interrupted his wedding. Needless to say, none of these plans go well. Meanwhile, when Brad brings home Chinese food for his regular date night of sweatpants and unprotected sex with the missus, Jane, who's still reeling from her sister's breakup, surprises him with a night out instead.

Then it's more breakup drama in Barefoot Pedaler. Alex and Dave try to prove their breakup doesn't have to spoil the group dynamic by pushing the crew into going to the concert of '90s hit band Barefoot Pedaler, but the rocking night out misses a few beats after Dave runs into his old frat buddies, who have all seen the now infamous video of Alex leaving him at the altar. While the exes bicker and Jane gets hammered, former Barefoot Pedaler groupie Penny is determined to get backstage for a reunion with the bandmember she bagged back in her college days.

The laughs start at 8 p.m. tonight, May 18, and you better enjoy the fresh episodes while you can: Next week it's time for the ABC Wednesday night finales!